Recently, at a family gathering, the conversation
turned to the "olden days" and about things family and
friends and neighbors did. I want to share a few with you
for laughs or just to say, "I remember that". In the ’50s
here in Minnesota, it was against the law to sell oleo margarine
in sticks because it looked like butter, so a bill was
passed outlawing the sale of it by the dairy industry. My
father-in-law drove a feed truck where he delivered feed
to the area farmers around Fairmont. The bulk plant was
in Esterville, Iowa and once a week he would go there to
get more feed. While he was there he would pick up a case
of oleo margarine in sticks as it wasn't illegal in Iowa.
He would bring it back to Fairmont and sell it to family
and neighbors so they could have cheaper "butter". The
oleo margarine at that time was sold in little sacks with a
food coloring bead in the middle and you would pop the
bead and knead the sack to spread the color throughout
the margarine so it looked like butter when you used it to
spread on bread or whatever. It was usually a job for us
kids after school.
Another story was about an uncle who in the
Prohibition days would drive to Canada in the wee hours
of the morning to bring back the "hooch". The details
were really fuzzy as he is deceased and not too many of
that age bracket are still with us. But it made for good
story telling anyway.
I guess it just goes to show that some laws don't really
hold much water and no matter what you can't make laws
to make people be good.
While I'm not saying you shouldn't obey the laws, as
they are necessary and needed to keep things from being
too chaotic, but some common sense could be used. Not
everyone is entirely stupid.
Have a good day!
Tags: bits and pieces, columns, hancock, hometown
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